Title : Playing with the Gold

Fandom : -man

Pairing : AllenxLink (my current obsession)

Disclaimer: -man belongs to no one but Katsura Hoshino.

A/N : This story is a continuation from my previous story, Donuts. Reading it was not necessary to understand this story, but it might be good to make some sense of why Link was so obsessed with finding a good present for Allen's birthday. I was planning to make this a two-shots story but if new ideas came to my mind, who knows I might make this longer :)

Anyway, please enjoy the story. Apology in advance for bad grammar, bad wording, or spelling mistakes.

...

Allen Walker loved yellow. This was a fact Howard Link, the Black Order's investigator, who was both an exceptional member of crow and Allen Walker's watchmen (and lately Allen himself had given him a new title: mother hen) managed to acquire at the beginning of his observation period. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out the younger boy's excessive obsession with this particular colour. Although Allen was often seen wearing black or white clothes, truthfully he had an equivalent amount of yellow collections in his wardrobe. Except Link, no one else seemed to notice this since the boy often wore his yellow clothes under his exorcist uniform. The white haired boy also paid so much attention to Timcanpy's colour. He made sure the golem always appeared nice and shiny by putting so much effort scrubbing it during bath time. He even spent third quarter of his bathing time solely to wash the golem with pot-scrubber until it shone like gold. Link secretly suspected the reason behind his obsession with yellow was due to the fact that the colour remained him of gold. Not that he thought Allen was a money-creep but given his situation with the General, the boy may love the metal more than he should.

Although the boy's preference usually had little to do with Link's observation report, it was different this time. It was December 23rd and in two days it'd be Allen's birthday. Link tried to convince himself that the boy's birthday had nothing to do with him and Allen had his friends to congratulate him. Unfortunately, the boy would be sent on an two-days mission during his birthday with no companions except for Link. He had already thought congratulating him on the day would be sufficient enough, but then he remembered that Walker had nursed him a few days before. He did give the boy some of his hand-made donuts as a thank-you present, but in the end Timcanpy ate most of it, leaving the boy sulking for the whole day. Him being Howard Link, a man who never failed to return the favour to those who'd helped him, found himself feeling guilty if he couldn't repay Allen back for the time he had lost for taking care of him when he was sick. After many thoughts, he decided to give Allen a present on his birthday. Although Link noticed that Allen didn't get particularly bothered by the fact that he had to work on his birthday, presumably because he forgot about his own birthday, giving a present was not a bad thing and it might cheer him up.

After coming up with a solution, Link met another dead end situation: what to give. He thought of giving Allen his another exclusive handmade treats, but considering Timcanpy might eat all of it like how it did before, food was out of option. He had his observation notebook of Allen and he thought he could make use of that. However, even after rereading the book for several times, he still had no idea on what to give. According to his observation, Allen almost never spent any money unless it was necessary. By 'necessary' he meant urgent necessity such as food when they were outside the order, or inn fees during mission in small towns where the Black Order's existence was not widely known (and Komui would reimburse it once he got back, so in the end it was as if he spent nothing at all to begin with). For clothes Allen always wore his old ones, or sometimes some people in Science Department gave theirs to him (which he gladly accepted). Even if Allen had his own income as an exorcist, as well as from gambling, all of the money was used to pay for Cross General's debt. After several months being together with him for 24/7, Link finally realized that Allen Walker had never shown any interest in things other than food, and this meant bad news to him. Allen's birthday was in two days and he had no enough time to find what present would be good based on observation, so what was left for him to do was asking around. Considering many things, either Lenalee Lee or Lavi, the Bookman Jr would be the best options since they had known Allen for some time and they were one of his closest friends. Asking Lenalee would be better since the girl would not suspect anything nor ask too much, but the Chinese girl was out on a mission and would not be back until the end of the year. Therefore, the only option he had was to ask the bookman junior. He didn't particularly dislike the red-haired guy, but Lavi often made fun of his two moles and his uptight personality (additionally, recently he felt the lower gaze the red-head guy was giving him was meant as a teasing for his short feature). With a long sigh he decided to go see the bookman when Allen was on a check up before mission. It didn't take him long to find Lavi as the boy usually hanged around the Order's library in his free time. Link found the boy sleeping surrounded by piles of books. The boy looked battered up from his previous mission. He had some bruises here and there and his right arm was wrapped in bandages. He approached Lavi and gave a small gentle tug, careful enough not to poke at the wounds but strong enough to wake him up.

"Wha.. It's the two dots inspector.", Lavi yawned before continuing," What's wrong?"

"Erhm.", Link cleared his throat feeling somewhat nervous, "Bookman Junior, if you may, I have something I would like to discuss with you."

"?", Lavi looked confused as hell. What on earth did the inspector wanted from him. Moreover, it was rare to see him walking around the Order without Allen. 'Wasn't it his duty to watch over Allen all the time?', Lavi thought. Moreover, the inspector was the type who prioritise his duty over anything, so seeing him out here looking for him and abandoning his duty was a rare sight.

"I'm not abandoning my duty. Walker's on his routine check-ups before his mission in two days and since I can't join him during check-ups, I might use this opportunity to find you since I have a question to ask.", replied Link as if he could read Lavi's mind, leaving the other male looking dumbfounded before continuing, "and as a matter of fact, yes, my questions are related to Walker. However, it's not for observation purpose, but rather it's something more…..private, I'd say."

Lavi was not expecting any of this at all. He never expected the inspector would come to him to ask him some stuff about Allen, moreover something that was not work-related. However, the situation seemed too interesting for his liking and how was he Lavi if he didn't grab this once in a lifetime chance of observing something as interesting as this situation. Also, he had some grudge against Allen who ate his precious yakiniku yesterday, so a little payback wouldn't hurt.

"Sure~ But maybe we should move somewhere else first. We are inside library after all."

"You've got a point there. We should move somewhere else.", said Link innocently, failing to notice Lavi's evil plan.

"How about cafeteria? I'm hungry anyway so I want to grab something to eat.", said Lavi with a huge grin on his face when the other man nodded in response.

'Food-revenge is such a sweet thing ne, Allen?', Lavi thought mischievously.

….

Allen had finished his check-ups sooner than he expected. It seemed the Science Department came up with some new inventions that enabled them to do some parts of the medical check-ups quicker than usual, although for innocence compatibility check up, they still needed to rely on Hevlaska. He was surprised for only finding Timcanpy without his roommate outside the check up room once he finished since the other male usually stuck close to him unless he had an important meeting with the central's higher ups.

"Tim, where did Link go?"

Timcanpy only shook in response. "That's weird.", murmured Allen, 'It's very unlike Link to suddenly disappear. Maybe something important came up? But he'd tell Tim if that's the case.'

After some thoughts Allen with no clear conclusion coming up to his mind, Allen decided to shake it off, 'If he didn't tell Tim, then maybe it's nothing important. I think I worry too much. He will come to look for me anyway so for now let's not think about it. Since it's been quite some time I have the time for myself without getting observed, why not use this chance to enjoy the rare freedom.'

"Tiimm.. Let's go to the cafeteria. I'm starving~"

….

For some people, it might be an unfamiliar sight: the infamous inspector sitting together with someone other than Allen Walker in the cafeteria. Some people were ignoring them and some others were whispering, wondering if the observation duty was shifted to bookman junior instead, or whether the suspect for the fourteenth host were changed from Allen to Lavi, or some other bullshits that Link didn't even bother listening to.

"So, what did you want to talk about?", asked Lavi, breaking the ice between the two of them.

"Ah, yes. About that.. I was just wondering if you of all people perhaps have an idea.", Link stopped in the middle, looking hesitated to continue his question further.

"Of?", asked Lavi while taking the first bite of his meal with his left hand. He sprained his right hand during the last mission and he had been using his left hand for some simple tasks such as holding spoon or grabbing stuffs. Luckily Bookman was being kind enough to help him writing his report, so he didn't have much trouble these days with just one hand functioning, except from the soreness the right hand gave if he tried to move it too much.

Link didn't reply, instead he averted his gaze from the other male, mumbling some incoherent words.

"C'mon two-dots inspector. Spill it out. We don't have all the time in the world, Allen should be finishing his check ups soon and you know you have to leave by that time.", insisted Lavi while munching on his food.

Had there was any time constraint, Link would love to give the bookman a long nag about talking while eating, but he knew that he didn't have enough time and any seconds were precious, so he brazed himself to continue the question, "I was wondering if you have any idea on what Walker wants."

Lavi looked at the inspector with wide eyes, his expression was a mixture of shock and confusion, but nonetheless he still managed to reply, "Well, we all know that Allen's on a huge debt from Cross General. So more than anything I think Allen wanted to pay off all of his debts-", before Lavi could finish his sentence Link cut him.

"I'm fully aware of that. However, what I meant here was, do you perhaps know what to give to Walker as a birthday present?"

Now, Lavi couldn't supress his shock anymore. He looked at the inspector with the strangest look that he didn't know he could make. He had predicted the type of questions the inspector would ask when he requested of his presence, however THIS, was something he didn't see coming.

"If you may, can you give me an answer now? As time is pressing.", Link urged, looking somewhat nervous with a vague pinkish tint on his cheeks. He knew him asking this kind of question was very out of his character, and he wished he could turn back time to prevent this from happening. But he knew he couldn't as he was just a normal human, not Miranda Lotto whose innocence could turn back time. He gave a deep sigh, sometimes some sacrifice needed to be made, and this time it was his pride.

Lavi, on the other hand, was even more shocked upon discovering that the inspector could make such an expression. He didn't know if it was because of the huge gap between the inspector's usual behaviour and his current behaviour, or if it was because the inspector looked unexpectedly cute when looking nervous, but Lavi could feel his heart skip a beat.

'This is very, very bad.", he thought to himself.

"Well, to be honest, I never see Allen show an interest at something other than money to repay the General's debt."

Link looked a bit down at the response before Lavi managed to continue, "But I think I might know what he'd want for his birthday."

Link brightened up upon hearing this.

"However, my information doesn't come cheap, inspector~", said Lavi with a huge sheepish grin.

Link furrowed his brows, this was why he didn't like to have anything to do with the bookman. You never know what he was up to, "What do you want?"

"Allen-chan often bragged to me on how delicious your sweets are. So I'm really curious on how good your treats really are. So if you can share with me some of your precious sweets, then I will tell you what Allen wants for his birthday.", Lavi took a small glance at the other side of the huge room. A smirk formed up on his face.

Link gave no response other than blinking. He didn't expect the red-haired boy would ask for something such as his handmade sweets, "Sure, you can have some of the sweets. Fortunately, I had made some for myself and Walker earlier so you can take some if you want to." Link took out a box of berry pie he had made earlier, "Please help yourself with the treat."

"Nu-uh", Lavi shook his head, "YOU have to feed me inspector."

Now, Link was not pleased at all.

"You see, I injured myself on my last mission. And it hurts like hell to move my hand. So you feeding me will help me a lot."

"You don't need your dominant hand to eat this kind of treat right, Bookman Jr."

"My other hand also hurts now. I think I rely on it too much lately.",Lavi told a straight out lie while making a fake hurt expression," If you feed me then I'll tell you". Link was about to burst out in anger. He couldn't understand what was going on inside Lavi's head, 'What's so good about a male feeding another male a food when he couldn't move his hand. Also, he was eating using his left hand perfectly fine just now.'

But given his position as the one making request, and Lavi's impossible to argue with attitude, he doubted Lavi would back off unless his request was fulfilled. Without much questioning he took a cut of the pie and brought it close to the red-head's mouth before a hand grabbed his wrist. Both Lavi and Link turned to the owner of the hand only to see a panting white haired boy with a yellow golden flying next to him, looking rather panicking.

"Walker?", Link was surprised to see the white haired boy appearing out of nowhere. As composed as he may look on the outside, he was panicking inside. He was hoping that the boy wasn't around long enough to listen to their entire conversation, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be doing check-ups?"

"The check-up's already finished.", said Allen while trying to catch his breath from running. He sent a quick glare to Lavi, "What are you doing here, Link? I thought you were waiting for me to finish up my check-ups."

Link didn't need to see Allen's face to figure out something seemed off. The boy's tone sounded unusually cold, completely different from his usual gentle tone. He seemed a bit upset about something. However, at that moment Link couldn't care less as his mind was trying to come up with a reasonable answer for Allen's question. He had assumed that he would finish his business with bookman Jr before Allen finished his check-ups, so he didn't bother to prepare for any back-up reason that could explain his current situation. He couldn't confess that he went away just to gather information on the boy's birthday present, could he? Firstly, it was too embarrassing to admit and secondly the whole present idea was supposedly meant to be a surprise for the boy, so confessing would ruin all his effort.

"He just has a business with me, Allen.", replied Lavi with his trademark playful smirk on his face, "just some private business that you don't need to know."

However, Lavi's smirk quickly died out when he saw the look Allen sent him. Due to his duty as a Bookman (and for most part because of their compatibility), Lavi often hanged around with Allen, either when they were in good or bad situation. Thus, it was given that he should have seen most of facial expressions Allen had: when he was hungry, when he was happy, when he was embarrassed, when he was broke, when he was bickering with Kanda, when he was fighting, and the list went on. However, this time it was different. Lavi realised it was Allen who stood in front of him, and yes, he looked very much pissed off, but there was another emotion on the younger boy's expression that he had never seen before: jealousy. Lavi swore it was the first time he saw such expression on Allen's face, and if look could kill, Lavi would probably be dead countless of times already. On the other side, either it was fortunate or not for Link, he couldn't quite see the face Allen was making as he was facing the boy's back, but judging by the startled expression the bookman junior was making, he knew Walker was very upset. Suddenly, Allen brought up Link's hand and ate the pie he was holding the whole time. Before Link could scold him for eating in such an improper manner, Allen pulled his hand and dragged him away from the table.

"I'm not sharing with you Lavi. It's specially made for me.", he grabbed the box of pie and pointed out a tongue at Lavi before exiting the cafeteria with a complaining inspector behind him, leaving the red-head boy speechless. It took some moments for him before he burst out in laughter. He had to admit the situation just now was pretty intense, if he could compare, probably the intensity of being surrounded by ten level-3 Akumas didn't weigh much compared to the heavy atmosphere he experienced just now.

"What sort of mischief are you planning now, Lavi?", asked Johnny who appeared out of nowhere with a tray of food on his hand, "Mind if I sit here?"

"Sure.", replied Lavi with a small chuckle.

"I saw Allen and inspector leaving just now. Somehow Allen looked different. Angry I suppose?", said Johnny as he gulped down the first scoop of his meal.

"Hmm"

Johnny gave Lavi a serious look through his thick glasses, "What did you do to Allen this time, Lavi? I know you're still mad at Allen for eating your meat, but I've never seen Allen looking so mad before."

Lavi ruffled his hair with his left hand, "I'm not that childish to get angry over small stuff like that, Johnny~ I was just 'testing out' a hypothesis of mine", he spotted Timcanpy who was still there, staring at Lavi and Johnny. A playful grin creeped on his face, "And the result turns out to be more satisfying than what I had expected. Allen-chan sure hates sharing, huh. Come to think about it, I have to thank the inspector for his cooperation. Tim, can you pass this note to the two-dots inspector?", Lavi tore out a paper from a book he was bringing and wrote some stuff on it. The golem gulped down the note and flew away towards the exit, leaving Lavi, who was humming happily and Johnny alone on the table. Johnny couldn't quite understand where Lavi was going, but decided to let it slide. To him, it seemed Lavi was messing with Allen's belongings and they had a small fight over it. That was all. Although at the back of his mind, he kept thinking that Allen's rage was a bit unusual for a small fight like that.

...

So, what do you think? Please give out your opinion on the review session :) No flame or hate message please because they hurt.

I'm still working on the second chapter at the moment, and planning on finishing it up some time this week (hopefully I can).

I hope you enjoy this story (and please give AllenxLink more love. They deserve it! Also hopefully the red rabbit will have his appearance soon in the manga. We all miss his silliness :)